A trotter than won't trot when ridden

[eternalbeginner]

Hi, here is a question that it’s been puzzling me for a while.

A friend of mine bought two French Trotters off the track. One had been racing in sulky and ridden, the other one only in sulky. He started both of them very very slowly. The one that had been ridden before was much more rigid and clumsy than the other one. But this one, after one year, is doing walk, trot and canter very nicely.

The other one, on the lunge trots and canters. Even with a rider on him. But the minute you take the lunge line off, he starts pacing at speed, even if you try to keep him in the circle.

I’ve read about trotters not having the right muscles built up, or feeling unbalanced under a rider, but then this does not explain why he trots when lunged and starts pacing like mad when he is not!!

I would like to help my friend, there are no trotters/pacers around here, nor trainers that can help with this kind of issue. Everything I have read is about horses that would pace when turned out or excited. But this horse never paced when racing, he started to do it when ridden.

Anyone can help? The horse is very sweet and has a very good conformation, and he offered good gaits when we started lunging him before the first ridings. He hacks out alone (at walk) with no problem.

Any idea will help!!!

[Scribbler]

Are you sure he wasn’t raced as a pacer?

My coach is currently schooling an ex-harness racer that trots and paces. When he paces, she just applies the kinds of aids she would use to balance a racy or clumsy or rushed trot, brings him back to a trot, lets him know that’s what she wants.

Why not keep working him on the longe, even on a very long longe, if that is a psychological crutch for him? Put him on the longe, but have the rider gradually take over balancing him through transitions. Then allow the horse to go in a straight line for a number of paces, walking beside him, until he hits the end of the rope. Gradually transfer more control over to the rider. Then take off the longe line and have the trainer still stand in the middle of the circle while the rider rides around? I’m thinking if the horse is going well on the longe, why not build on that?

[eternalbeginner]

We’ll try that. I would like to work him on poles too, I read that horses cannot pace on poles. On the lunge, of course.

[buck22]

or feeling unbalanced under a rider, but then this does not explain why he trots when lunged and starts pacing like mad when he is not!!

Actually its possible, the pacing could very easily be an indicator of stress or tension. There could be a change of perspective in the horse’s mind that is taking place when the transition off the longe happens - lack of support, larger circle than previous, rider going from passenger to more active, taking more contact, applying more leg - or just the rider reacting somehow to the pacing, setting the horse up to fear pacing and then pace out of fear. Could be a very sensitive minded horse that is picking up on something almost imperceptible to those around him.

I would not think in terms of the horse’s breed or past job, but evaluate the individual in front of you, that day, instead.

The babystep approach suggested above is a great place to start.

[Foxglove]

Can’t help you but will interject a story of a girl who was showing at a show organized by my family for a local charity. She’d been booted from a class and came to find me to correct the judge’s decision. She explained that her horse was a Standardbred; therefore, was a gaited horse. I asked what the three gaits were that her horse did. She said, " he walks and he trots and he trots really fast." To her, those were three gaits and so he should be allowed in the gaited classes. Had he been a pacer who also cantered, I might have considered her request –

Foxglove

[mand_asbfan]

Has this horse had any chiro or massage work done? I had a 5 gaited Saddlebred that would take probably 20 rounds around the arena before he would stop gaiting and hit a trot - I had him adjusted and he picked up a trot within one rail. Another trick I learned with this horse was to use different sounds for each gait - if I wanted a slow gait, I would make a tick noise and for a trot I would use a whistle. Your friend may want to choose a sound to associate with the trot and use that noise when asking for a trot on the lunge and hopefully the horse will associate with it and start doing it under saddle as well.